1. Field of the Invention
One or more aspects of the present invention relate generally to computer generated graphics, and more particularly to processing cube map coordinates.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional graphics processing, the processing of cube map coordinates may be performed using dedicated fixed function processing units specifically designed to perform cube mapping computations. These dedicated fixed function processing units are idle when cube mapping operations are not used, decreasing the efficiency of the graphics processor since the die area used for the dedicated fixed function processing unit is not available for use by a general purpose processing unit that may be used to perform a variety of computations.
Accordingly, it is desirable to perform cube map computations using a general purpose processing unit that is capable of executing shader program instructions rather than using a dedicated fixed function processing unit that is configured to only perform cube map computations.